The short version of my race is I finished better than last year. My swim time was about the same as the previous year. The bike I felt fairly strong until the last 30 miles into the headwind. On the run I quickly settled into a good pace for the first 13 miles then struggled to maintain my pace for the last 13.
2014 results
Swim 1:10:26 Bike 6:08:00 Run 3:38:03 T1 3:23 T2 3:44
14th division, 117th gender, 959 overall
2015 results
Swim 1:10:57 Bike 5:51:26 Run 3:36:05 T1 3:08 T2 3:59
15th division, 73rd gender, 812 overall
Now for the long version of my race.
PRE-RACE
My coworkers at Huntsman are amazing! We were short staffed and so I could not take time off of work. However my coworkers picked up some extra shifts so that I could do what I love and race in Kona. They followed me and I came back to work and saw that they had been tracking my progress and had posted all my results in the break room.
After qualifying for Kona, Dimond bicycles reached out to me, inviting me to be a part of their team. I ended up buying a bike from them to replace the one I had stolen in May. I received it three weeks prior to racing. I quickly tried to familiarize myself with the feel of the bike, make fit adjustments, and figure out the best way to carry my hydration and fuel. The bike was fast and smooth. I was a little nervous about racing on a bike I did not put in a ton of miles on, however it worked out well.
I arrived to Hawaii on Tuesday, afternoon. That evening the Dimond technicians put together and tuned up my bike. It was nice to know if I had any bike problems the Dimond team would be there for me.
Wednesday morning I was able to meet up with my friend Emily in the picture to the left. We went for a morning swim. The ocean water was crystal clear. All the beautiful, colorful fish made swimming fun. As we swam out with the waves I was hoping to see dolphins, like the previous year. But I wasn't as lucky this year. After the swim I checked in and grabbed all my transition bags. The race was seeming more real instead of just a dream. I found a good deal on Rudy helmets and bought a new helmet. My new bike helmet looked super cool and I loved the visor accessory. I hate sun glasses, and the new helmet had a built in visor. I know it really isn't my style, but I was excited and felt fast with my helmet on. Thursday the Dimond team provided their athletes with a breakfast and we went for an easy bike ride. On the ride I actually lost a water bottle from my front water cage. On my new bike my aero bars were wider and didn't hold my water bottles as tightly. I debated about changing my hydration system. However, I decided not to change and to try to pay attention to my water bottle to make sure this didn't happen.
That night I met up with my friend Sue another athlete from Salt Lake City, and we attended the athlete's dinner. It was a fun way to relax with other athlete's. They introduced the theme Onipa'a. Watching all the Hawaiian dancers and fire dancers was entertaining. They also reviewed a number of amazing female Ironman champions.Friday I went for a brief ride and run to loosen up and make sure my bike was working. For my run I went along a peaceful beach in Kona. It was nice to not be on Alli'i drive and the Queen K with the hoards of athletes training. Kona must be the most fit city in the world for a few weeks. Then I met up with the Dimond team to check in together. We were styling and checked in with a boom box and sun glasses. There were photographers snapping pictures of our bikes as the volunteers were trying to move us quickly to the transition. This was definitely not my style with my shy personality, but it was fun.
In Kona when you check in the bike you are assigned an assistant that escorts you through the green mats in transition. I racked my bike wheels into the wooden slots. The bikes were very close together, creating a sea of bikes. I tried to remember which row I needed to turn down after the swim to find my bike. Then I was escorted to the transition bag racks. I hung my bags with thousands of other bags hoping I would remember the row to run down to grab my bag on race day. I chatted with my coach over the phone, which was helpful. Even though it was my 12th Ironman I was still nervous and needed some reassurance. I was ready.
Friday night I picked up my brother from the airport. I loved having him cheer and support me on race day. It meant a lot to me that even as a poor college student he came to see me race. I ate a small meal with him and went to bed early.
RACE MORNING
I slept amazing well! In fact I think it was the best sleep I had prior to an Ironman event. At 4am I felt well rested. I prepared for the race and had a bite to eat. Whenever I put on my race jersey adrenaline rushes through me. I was a little nervous because I didn't have a bowel movement, especially with all my GI issues on race day. My brother and I packed into the car. To the left is my brother. We actually found some free parking near the race start. It was my lucky day.Last year I remember waiting in line for awhile to have my number tattoo placed. So I arrived earlier this year. It went much quicker, maybe they had more volunteers or I beat the crowd. But I was happy that it was quicker. Then I had to be weighed in. I never weigh myself and I did not want to know my race weight, and tried to avoid looking but saw the number. I wondered if it was a good racing weight for me or not. I wondered how much of the weight was carb loading and hydration. All right focus, only worry about what you can control on race day. I headed to my bike looking for a pump. Some races there are only a few pumps, and it takes a lot of waiting to use a pump. Thankfully there were plenty. Then I put all my nutrition on my bike! Loved it finally no more worrying about how much nutrition to put on my bike and what to use for fuel. I know I should have figured this out months ago, but I tend to procrastinate stressful things. I finally had an urge to have a bowel movement! Yes, one less thing to worry about.
I found my friend Emily! She was relaxing and stretching under a tree and I joined her. It was such a boost to see her excited and nervous at the same time. In transition we watched the pros start, I put on my skin suit and warmed up a little. I exited the swim and saw there was enough time to get in again, I wanted to make sure my goggles were not fogging and it was nice to get out some of the pre-race jitters.
SWIM
The females were the last wave. I was grateful to not swim with the larger group of males. The females clustered in together, swimming to the deep water start. Before the gun went off, my foot was kicked by somebody spraining my toe. I wondered how this would affect my run, I told myself to only worry about the swim. I pushed my way to the front where a ton of suffers, kayaks and paddle-boarders were trying to make sure we didn't inch forward past the starting line. A volunteer job I do not envy with so many competitive anxious athletes. I tried to position myself near the front so I didn't have to swim through a ton of swimmers and hoped I might find a fast swimmer to follow. I took a deep breathe trying to relax and spend as little energy as possible treading water. I felt like I had found some space at the starting line but then they asked us to squeeze in closer together to make way for the pro-males. We squished in together and finally the cannon went off. We took off in a massive violent surge. I have never enjoyed this part of open water swims. I did have my goggles kicked and was thankful they were secure under my cap and my timing chip was safety pinned. After 20 minutes the crowd thinned out a little and it was more enjoyable. I actually found the swim spread out and it was more difficult than I had anticipated to draft. I let my mind wander a little and wondered if I might see any sea creatures like dolphins, however I ended up just seeing other swimmers. I followed the buoys to the half way point around two boats. As we made the turn around the boats we started to catch some of the slower males and it turned into a maze. I meandered my way through bodies hoping I was swimming semi straight. I loved knowing I was on the home stretch of the swim and tried to pull powerfully through the waves. After a while I wondered why it seemed to take so long to get back to shore but then tried to focus on pulling again. Finally we reached the stairs exiting the swim. T1
I ran up the stairs to hoses to rinse out the salty water from my mouth. The water tasted so good. I probably stayed there too long drinking water and rinsing the salt off my body. I easily found my transition bags thanks to the help of the volunteers and entered the crowded changing tent, where I stripped off my swimming skin suit and put on my bike shoes. I ran onto the green mats and actually slipped. I remembered they were slippery from last year. Maybe next year I will learn how to do a flying mount, so I can keep my shoes mounted on my bike. The whole flying mount kind of scares me though. I picked myself from the ground and ran a little more cautiously to my bike and put on my new bike helmet. My new bike and helmet were so elegant looking, too bad I couldn't take more time to admire. I quickly put on my new helmet and exited transition.
Bike
I biked into the cheering crowd and cowbells pumped up. It was such an adrenaline rush, I tried to remind myself that I still had 112 miles to bike. I love pushing hard and strong, but have learned I need to save energy for the marathon. I biked up Palani and soon found my brother cheering for me. I waved to him. I actually did not feel great after the swim, which helped me control my pace. I remember reading in Chrissie Wellington's book, A Life Without Limits, that when she does not feel good she smiles, so I smiled. I kept a consistent effort and started to fall into my biking groove turning on the Queen K. The peace away from the crowded cheering city allowed me to focus on my nutrition plan. Every 20 minutes I had a gu, or some chomps, while enjoying the black lava rocks and ocean scenery. The frequent aide stations in Kona are amazing. They space out the water, Gatorade and nutrition so it is easier to grab without slowing down for uncoordinated athletes. I kept making sure I was not losing my front water bottle. Placing the water bottle in the back behind my seat was a little difficult and I found the Gatorade bottles worked better in the back. I think I will get better at this with more practice. I was super nervous about receiving a bike penalty and focused on staying a 5 bike distance behind other athletes, passing quickly and moving back to the right.
Along the Queen K, I saw the top male pro pushing hard in front of a pack of racers. Soon the top females zoomed by. Dang they are fast! It was inspiring. As I turned up to Hawi the wind picked up. It is a slight uphill, it reminded me of emigration canyon at home. Many times I rode up the windy canyon with my friend Ruthie and I thought to myself, "No problem, this is just another emigration ride." It stated to rain a little on the ascent and descent. I loved my visor on my helmet, my visor did not fog up with the rain. I was worried about the roads being slick, on the descent, and so I was a little cautious. However this was my favorite part of the ride. I knew the bike ride was half way over. I felt strong and my bike was handling well with the crosswinds. I tucked in and pedaled hard passing many people. Maybe I pushed a little too hard but I felt strong and enjoyed the ride.
The cloud cover quickly disappeared and the roads dried. The sun reflecting against the black lava rocks was like a sauna, but the heat was not bothering me. I remember one athlete complaining about loosing the cloud cover and how hot it was. I learned later it was one of the hottest races in Kona. I think my heat training the last few weeks prior to Kona helped me out. As we turned onto the Queen K we turned into a strong head wing. This was hard, I watched people past me and struggled. I am super thankful to an athlete who made me aware that I almost lost a water bottle in my cage behind my seat, quickly I secured the water bottle. I was thankful I didn't litter and would not have a chance of a littering violation. I saw my friend Emily pass me and surged briefly with some inspiration, but I was still struggling. I smiled and then thought of a song that I didn't know all the words to, but sang the chorus which helped forget about the suffering. I grabbed some coke at an aide station and started to feel a little better with 10 miles to go and finished strong.
As I approached transition I debated about how to dismount. Last year I left my shoes on my bike and did a flying dismount. This year I didn't want to fall with my new bike, which happened to me one Ironman. I also was nervous about the flying dismount with the water bottle cages behind my seat. I opted for the safest option. Once again I was running on the slippery green mats with my bike shoes on. Thankfully this time I didn't fall! Finally I reached the transition bags and entered the crowded changing tent and put on my running shoes. I was super excited for the amino acid drink I put in the transition bag in the morning. One sip and such a disappointment. The drink had been made into a hot tea being baked in the sun. My next task was to find sunscreen. I quickly looked for the sunscreen station and gave up, too anxious to start running Leaving transition I heard somebody call my name. I looked at all the volunteers and couldn't identify who it was, but assumed it was Sue's friend Sandy who was volunteering. It was so nice to hear somebody cheering for me.
RUN
I ran out of transition into the awesome cheering crowd. I felt on top of the world, I looked down at my watch. 7:30. I knew this pace was too fast for me so I backed off a little. My plan was to run the first mile at 8:30 and ran my first mile at 8:00. I enjoyed all the people cheering along Ali'i drive. At mile 3 I used a porta-potty and continued on with a good pace. I appreciated all the hoses to cool down my body. I saw Emily out on Ali'i drive looking super strong, we exchanged encouraging words. After about 10 miles we turned up the Palani hill and I found my brother cheering for me and smiled.
For the race I wore an SOAS racing kit. I had multiple cheers from the SOAS team, which was uplifting. I saw a few Dimond team members cheering for me and it was nice to have Wes and Tom from Salt Lake cheering for me also.
After Palani, we turned onto the Queen K, I still felt strong and ran to a crowd of maybe 15 people who were doing the wave, I did it a few times with them and felt invigorated. The first 13 miles went by quickly, however I knew I was bonking. My feet were on fire and I knew I had some blisters My GI system was no longer happy with me. I focused on little things like swinging my arms and a quick turn over. I knew we had to turn off the Queen K to the energy lab at mile 16. The energy lab seemed to take forever to reach. Finally I reached the energy lab and happily turned off the Queen K. Heading downhill through the energy lab it was much easier to keep a good pace. However I knew it would be a struggle coming back up. On the way down I found my friend Emily again, I waved and knew I had to be mentally strong just like Emily. As I turned up hill I again turned to the song I had in my head on the bike which helped me forget about my fatigue.
At the top of the the energy lab I had some red bull which helped me gain some energy. I headed up the last hill on the Queen K around mile 25. The end was in sight and I knew I could finish. The last mile was downhill and I mustered up all my strength for one last surge. Here is me running down the finisher chute. It always nice to have enough energy to finish strong. As I crossed the finish line I lifted my arms, smiled and had the song in my head that helped me make it through my race. I kept running through the finish line attempting to travel past the cameras that show up on the on-line feed before collapsing with mental and physical exhaustion. I was led to the medical tent. I am so thankful for the medic volunteers after the Ironman races! I started to realize how fatigued I was. My poor body was a little beat up; my feet were blistered feet and I was burned, chaffed, and dehydrated. I knew that I had pushed my hardest and executed my race to the best of my ability. I think I am most excited about my run. I always love having a good run. Qualifying for Boston at Kona is always exciting. Kona is a magical place. The spectators, volunteers, athletes, and organization of the race make it special.Thanks you to all my friends and family who support me and help me achieve my goals. I appreciated all the good luck wishes sent to me. Thanks to my coach Cherell with Braveheart Coaching Salt Lake City and the Dimond Bike technicians and team. Mahalo!
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